
Trailblazing Women Changing the Way We Think About Innovation
Stern Speakersโ roster includes women who address innovation โ from building dynamic companies to reforming our wider economic framework.Stern Strategy Group |
Innovation may seem like an overused buzzword, but research indicates itโs yet to lose its luster. The need for leading companies and economies to constantly reinvent themselves through new products, services and business models is an eternal demand of the marketplace.
Stern Speakersโ roster features many of the leading innovation experts of all time. Here, we highlight a few outstanding women who are changing the way we think about building innovative companies, designing new products, improving core social services and reorganizing our entire economic system to maximize its innovative potential.
Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School professor and author of the highly anticipated book โReimagining Capitalismโ (Hachette, 2020), argues that single-mindedly focusing on shareholder value has diverted companiesโ attention from promoting long-term innovation and growth to pumping up quarterly earnings. By adopting a new framework based on sustainability, we can save our economic system and form the basis of future prosperity.
How do some innovators manage to disrupt and transform entire markets through a single invention? The key, says Harvard Professorย Beth Altringer, is to understand theย powerย of design and desire. Altringer, who will be unveiling her appย Chef Leagueย at SXSW 2019, uses her revolutionary โDesirability Frameworkโ to help companies move beyond the surface level of product development to understand who their target consumer is and what he or she really wants โ even if the consumers do not know themselves.
Innovation can do more than improve corporationsโ bottom lines. It can also expand prosperity and opportunity for millions by increasing affordability and accessibility. Ann Christensen, president of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, focuses on how companies can find ways to reform under-performing health and education systems throughout the world. She helps them harness innovation for a wider social purpose, while offering insights on how to pursue growth through market disruption.
Innovation has been on the mind of business leaders for a long time now, but it will only become more important as change and uncertainty accelerate. With the expertise of these six women, discover what awaits your company in the future โ and how to prepare for the challenges and opportunities of ongoing transformation.